One by one...

is what Mother Theresa always said. She could have been overwhelmed when she arrived in India and witnessed the enormity of the task before her, but instead, she went to a person who was dying in the street, picked him up and took him to care for him. We can learn so much from her.
If you don't start somewhere you won't go anywhere.

Lookie what came in the mail...

I love getting parcels! This one came from Winterwood Steiner Inspired Toys and I plan to make some little dolls. I've never used pure wool as stuffing before, it feels absoloutely beautiful, 3 year old dd couldn't get her hands off it! I've also never used wool felt before, only acrylic so I'm excited about that too.





More exciting news... we have honeyeaters nesting in the jasmine! They've just hatched, there are 3 chicks. They are one of my favourite birds and the first one to nest in our "becoming established" garden. They're very fond of our honeysuckle, red hot pokers and echium.
And speaking of dear old Nanna, this is a doll she gave to me to pass on to my girls. The doll was a gift to Nanna from her mother when she was 4 years old - she is now 82! I named the doll Sylvia after Nanna, she wears a lovely knitted outfit including underdress and underpants. Her eyes close when you lie her down.


Knitting!

I've finally given into my curiosity and borrowed a book on how to knit from the library. My Nanna did teach me some basic knitting when I was young, but she always did the casting on and off for me. I've made a start and it looks ok thus far, I wish I had a knitting friend to help me! I'd like to make little hats and cardigans for the children and (of course) dolls clothes. Wish me luck!

A top

I made the bulk of this in sewing class and finished it off at home. It turned out very well and fits beautifully, thanks to my teacher who is a dressmaker and drew up a pattern to my measurements. My husband loves it on me too - always a bonus!



I'm doing some rearranging and organising today, which inevitably leads to extra cleaning! Its always worth the effort when its finished though. Hope you're having a nice day.

Spring garden

Its lovely to have so many flowers this year, now all we need is some more rain!



Echium





Native Broom

Fabric covered tin




I had thought of putting a tutorial up for this, but didn't really have the time. Its an old coffee tin that I'll use for craft ribbons and bits & pieces. It took me ages to figure out, but it turned out really well. I love the fabric too, I'm a real sucker for florals!

Goldy hair

Just finished this one today, its amazing how long one doll can take! Her face is hand embroidered, the dress is partly lined, and her hair style took a bit of fiddling!



Its a rewarding pastime though :)

Little dress and holidays?

I've just started sewing classes again and finished this off lastnight. The fabric was left over from a bag. Cute huh?







Now, the holiday.......
My husband has time off in November so we decided we desperately need to go away for a few nights. Upon contacting our usual holiday accomodation at our regular destination we find they have raised their prices rather substantially. So, after much brainstorming we came up with the idea of buying a large family tent (we have a tent but its too small for all of us) and hiring a tent site at the caravan park. We have never stayed in a tent with 3 small children so this could be a very interesting experiment. We figure if it works out well we are saving ourselves a lot of money for future holidays by hiring a tent site instead of a cabin or house. Now to find a tent.................

Mock prawn cakes

My husband dubbed them that as they tasted like prawns! Very easy to make, here is what I did:

1 & 3/4 cups of jasmine rice
1/2 cup of peas
2 eggs
small tin red or pink salmon
seasonings of your choice
breadcrumbs

I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and let it cool for a while. Stir in the peas and drained tin of salmon. Stir the eggs in with a fork. Stir in seasonings (I used salt & pepper and garlic salt.) Form the mixture into patties or little balls, coat in breadcrumbs. Fry in a hot pan with olive oil.
They're very nice with mayonnaise.

Simple and cheap!

Dying computer

I have to face the fact that this computer is dying. A new computer has now been relegated to the top of the evergrowing List of items to be Replaced. I had hoped that we would have a piano by now, but once again it will have to wait as a computer is "needed" more. So it joins the List along with the bedroom blinds, bookshelf, mower, vacuum cleaner.... Anyway for now, I'm trying not to use it too much in the fear that the next time it won't work!

Mt Buller

The boys had a great time at the snow and made their first snowman which drew a lot of attention from passersby wanting to take photos! It was an expensive trip but well worth it, the weather was beautiful that day.

This blog is closing!

All posts will now be found at my new site.  Click here to go the the new site.